Stop check announcing device for adding machines



Dec. 15 1925- 1,565,298 M. WADDELL ET AL STOP CHECK ANNOUNCING DEVICEFOR ADDING MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 10. 1925 EUUUUUU ll 1 I1 Z 15 V as 21 58 as 27/70/41; Wadd fl I'M 6 Mar/v3 /fa7char 16INVENTORS W 1 38 4 Arm/Mr.

Dec- 15, 1925- C 1.565.

M. WADDELL ET AL STOP CHECK ANNOUNCING DEVICE FOR-ADDING MACHINES FiledApril 10, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 JL'A ATTORNEY Des. 15, 1925.

M. WADDELL. ET AL STOP CHECK ANNOUNCING DEVICE FOR ADDING MACHINES FiledApril 10, 1. 25 s Sheets-Sheet 5 HUME Morwon Wadde/l I Alf/the! (Ir/7 3M mum/wow J ZM'A ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 15, 1925.-

- UNITED STATES 1,565,298 PATENT OFFKIE.

MORTON WADDELL, OF NEW YORK, AND MORRIS KATCHER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

STOP-CHECK-ANNOUNCING DEVICE FOR ADDING MACHINES.

Application filed April 10, 1925. Serial No. 22,065.

I 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, MORTON WADDELL and Momus KAToHER, citizens of theUnited States of America, residing at city, county, and State of NewYork,'and Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State-of-New York,respectlvely, have invented new and useful Improvements inStop-Check-Announcing Devices for Adding Machines, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to an automatic stop-check announcer for use inbanks and' other establishments where large numbers v of checks arehandled and their amounts tabulated on adding machines, and where it isnecessary during such tabulation to call attention of an adding machineoperator to the presence of a stop-check.

The principal object of our invention is to provide a stop-checkannouncer of the character hereinafter described which forms a completemechanism in itself and which may be operatively connected tosubstantially any standard type of adding machine.

The invention is illustratively exemplified in the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure 1 is a side-.elevational view of an addingmachine with our improved automatic stop-check announcer operativelyconnected thereto; Figure 2 is a diagrammatic view of theelectrical'connections and parts of the invention; Figure 3 is-aperspective view of a section of the drum, brush con tactors andselectors operatively connected thereto; Figure 4 is an end elevationalview of the stop-check announcer; Figure 5 is an enlarged detailsectional view of the bearing and drive mechanism of the selecting drum;Figure 6 is a substantially longitudinal sectional view of the drum;Figure 7 is a plan view of one end of the mechanism showing a series ofelectrically operated selectors; and Figure 8 is an enlarged detailperspective view, partly in section showing the construction of theadjustable brush connections.

Referring to the drawings, and particular- 1y to Figures 1 and 2, 10designates an adding machine of the general type having form a knifearrangement 14, movable upon depression of the key, into contact withboth spring fingers l3 and 13. k i

.In the signal system an electrical contact segment 15 is mountedconcentrically with respect to the axis of the handle lever 11 anddisposed to make contact with the latter during the entire downwardaction thereof to operate the adding machine.

The signal circuit in addition to the segment 15 comprises a wire 16between the segment 15 and one terminal of a battery 17., the otherterminal of the latter being wired to one of a series of contact shoes18. There is one shoe 18 for each key 12 and at opposite ends of theseries a wire connection'19 is made with a contact point 20, which isdisposed on the handle and arranged to contact with the segment 15, theconnection 19 including a lamp 21 or any other suitable electricallyoperated announcer.

The contact shoes 18 are substantially U-shaped members arranged side byside and are electrically connected in groups of ten, i. e., one shoefor each key of a bank and one extra one which represents the zerocharacter not appearing in the adding machine key board. One parallelset of free ends of the digit shoes 18 are normally electricallyconnected together by a series of pivoted members 22, which operate toopen the signal circuit when the correspondingkeys of the adding machineare depressed, and which are controlled by electro-magnets 23. The zeroshoe, designated 24, in each group normally places a gap in the signalcircuit because the pivoted contact member 25 co-operating therewith isnormally raised so that the connection is broken between the zero shoe-24 and the ninth digit shoe 18. The contact member 25 is yieldablysupported in raised position by a spring connection 26 and drawndownwardly to close the signal circuit by means of an electromagnet 27.

The connection between each magnet 23 and its corresponding key 12consists of one wire 28 connecting one terminal, the magnet with theknife portion 14 of the key 12 and a second wire 29 connecting thefinger 13 with a bus wire 30, which in turn is connected to one terminalof a battery 31. From the other terminal of the battery 31. a bus Wire32 connects with the other terminal of each magnet 23 through wireconnections 33. In order to close the gap in the signal circuit causedby the normally raised contact member 25, when any'key of its group isdepressed, the magnet 27 is connected at one terminal to the bus wire 32by a wire connection 34 and at the other terminal by a second wireconnection 35 to a bus wire 36 which is tapped by wire connections 37 toeach finger 13.

The other set of free ends of thecontact shoes 18 comprises T-shapedprojections arranged in the path of selector segments disposed .inlongitudinal rows around the surface of a rotatable drum 39, making .onecomplete revolution for each depression of the handle lever 11. Thesegments 38 are adjustable into and out of the path of the- T-shapedprojections, so that as the drum revolves the segments which areprojectioned will close the sections of the circuit coming under their.influence, as hereinafter described in detail.

From the foregoing it willbe clear that there are two distinct circuitsin the present invention, one operating the signal device and the otherconnected to the pivoted members 22 and 25 to open and close gaps in thesignal circuit. For each tabulation made on the adding machine 10 thecorresponding member 22 will be operated so as to open the necessarynumber of gaps in the signal circuit. In order to avoid the possibilityof false alarms, which would result if no zero places were provided,each group of digits in a bank are isolated from adjacent groups by thezero shoes 24 and raised pivoted member 25. As described, theelectromagnet 27 controlling the lever contact member 25 bridging thezero gap is so connected with the digit circuits of its group thatwhenever a key corresponding to one of these digits is depressed, theelectromagnet 27 repels the lever contact member 25 and it closes thezero gap, thereby completing the signal circuit in so far as itsparticular group is concerned. If, however, none of the digits in thisparticular group is operated, resulting in a,zero on the adding machinetabulation, the zero gap remains open. Therefore, the signal circuitcannot be completed unless there is a zero on the sto checkcorresponding to the gap, in which case the selector segment 38 of a rowon the drum 39 will be raised to close the said gap. So far thearrangement will take close the corresponding zero gaps, which remaininactive because none of the digits in the respective banks on thekeyboard of the in the present invention, one operating the signal.device and the other just described, which" comprises two magneticcircuits,

which control the operation of the pivoted members 22 and 25 to open andclose gaps in the signal circuit. For each tabulation made on the addingmachine 10'the cor responding members 22 will be operated, so as to openthe necessary number of gaps in the signal circuit, and simultaneoustherewith the zero members 25 in the groups having depressed digit keyswill be raised. The drum 39 is then rotated by operation of the addingmachine handle and if the adjusted segments or selectors 38,representing the amount of the stop-check, register with the gaps in thesignal circuit, the latter will be completed and the announcer operatedto call the operators attention to the presence of the stop-check. It isbelieved that the elements described in the foregoing will suffice togive a full understanding of the invention, it being possible-0f courseto arrange these elements in several designs, but for the purpose ofillustrationwe have shown only one design embodying the various featuresof our invention.

The automatic stop check announcer, illustrated particularly in Figuresto 8, inclusive, comprises a base plate 40, upright end standards 41mounted adjacent the ends of the plate and having suitable bearings 42toreceive a shaft 43 upon which the drum 39 is keyed. At one end of themachine the shaft 43 projects through its bearing and carries a pimon 44which is constantly in mesh with the teeth of a rack 45, and which maybe rotated by longitudinal movement of the latter through a guide piece47 loosely carried on the end of the shaft 43. One end of the rack isprovided with an eye 48 (Figure 1) adapted to pivot about a pin 49projecting from the hand lever 11 of the adding machine 10, In orderthat the drum 39 may rotate only in one direction a pawl and ratchetdevice 50 1s carried by. the pinion 44 and comprises a plate 51 attachedto the face of the pinion 44 and having a projecting pinv 52 upon whichis mounted a awl 53 held in effective position by means 0 a spring 54.The pawl the drum in a counter clockwise direction, but which willrotate in the opposite direction without moving the drum.

As stated, the drum carries the segments 38 which are arranged in seriesof rows disposed axially of the drum. and about the periphery thereof tooperate in connection with the T-shaped ends of the contact shoes ber ofsegments 38 corresponding to the keys on the adding machine, and inaddition thereto a zero segment 38' is rovided for each zero place in agroup or ank. Each segment 38 and--38 comprises a radially disposedmember 56 supported in a comblike bar piece 57, which is attached to thedrum at opposite ends. prises a member having an elongated slot 58 inone edge to receive a fixed pin 59 projecting from one of the teeth ofthe bar 57. This construction enables the member 56 to be raised orprojected outwardly from the periphery of the drum. A spring seat 60 isprovided for the inner end of the member 56 whereby the normal tendencyis to raise the latter. The member 56 is held in depressed position bymeans of a pivoted latch arrangement comprising a over having a hook 6.1at the inner end to engage under the bar 57, as illustrated clearly inFigure 8. The latch is pivoted to the member 56 and above the pivot thearm portion 62 is disposed at an angle away from the adjacent edge ofthe member 56, seas to enable the latter to swing inwardly to releasethe hook 61. The normal tendency of the latch is to yieldably engage thehoo under the bar 57 and for this purpose a spring 63 is carried in anopening in the segment the outer end of the spring being adapted toyieldably press outwardly the offset arm 62. When it is desired to setup the drum to signal certain combinations of numbers corresponding tothe amount of the stop check it is merely necessary to press the arm 62towards the body of the segment which will project outwardly uponrelease of the hook6l. In order to insure perfect electrical contactbetween the adjacent T- shaped ends of the shoes 18 and 24c, the outersurface or end of the member 56 is provided with a shoe 64 of copper oraluminum. It will be clear of course that the nun'iber of segments to arow and the number rows may be varied depending upon the maximum amountof the checks to be stopped. i. c. if the maximum check to be stopped is$9999.99 the number of segments will be 6 X 10 or 60.

The contact shoes 18 and 21: are sup orted above the drum upon aninsulating ridge piece which is attached at its opposite ends to theupper edges of the standards 41, as illustrated in Figure 6. Since theseshoes 18 and 24 are electrically insulated The segment further com fromeach other it is necessary to induce currrent to flow from one to theother during operation of the machine and for this purpose the pivotedmembers or levers 22 are'normally held in contact with two adjacentshoes 18. The circuit in this connection is not closed however becausethe levers 25 are not lowered to connect the zero shoe 24 with the 9thdigit shoe .18 of the succeeding bankuntil a digit key of. the same bankis operated. As stated, the levers 22 are pivoted midway of their lengthon a common plvot pin 66 projecting betweenstandards 67 carried by the'bridge piece 65, while the levers 25 are pivoted on standards 25'disposed rearwardly of the magnet 27- and provided with slots to receivethe pin 66. It has been explained that the levers are operated bymagnets 23- and 27, one thereof for each key in a bank of the addingmachine and one for the zero place of each bank, so that as-any key isdepressed a circuit will be closed and the corresponding lever willbreak contact with its respective shoes 18 to form a gap andsimultaneously therewith the second circuit will be closed to drop thelever 25 and close the connection. The shoes 18 in normal position forma continuous electrical circuit except the zero gaps for one gap whichis bridged electrically by the movement of the adding machine handle 11to form contact with the segment plate 15. Thus when the tabulation ismade by depressing several keys, a corresponding number of gapsare'opened and closed in the circuit which is" thereby broken atpredetermined places. Under the bridge the adjacent elements are soarranged that when one of the drum segments 25 is raised, it bridges thegap between the two shoes 18 or between alatter shoe and a zero shoe 24andcompletes the circuit. It will be clear then, that when the operatorpushes down certain keys, a series of gaps 1s produced and should it sohappen that corre-. sponding segments in the rows are raised, all thegaps would close and the circuit completed to give the signal. Thenumber of stop-checks possible to record on a single cylinder is onlylimited by the number of rows of segments possible to dispose about theperiphery.

Briefly stated the present invention virtually comprises a drum carryinga series of selectors which may be adjusted to give certain combinationscorresponding to the total amounts of the stop checks. A second set ofelements operatively associated with the first, to normally form aclosed electrical circuit which may be open and closed at uniformdistances by operating the keys of an adding machine. If the gaps formedby these breaks correspond with any one of the selected combinations onthedrum, then as the latter moves, the set selectors comprising the stopcheck combination and the necessary raised zero selectors to the left ofthe first digit, disposed in the path of the second set of elements, thelatter will close the gaps and complete a circuit in which a signal isincluded.

What we claim-is 1. The combination of an adding machine and astop-check announcer, and means connecting the two devices to cause theannouncer to respond to the key action obtained for each operation ofthe adding machine.

2. In combination with a key operated adding machine, a stop-checkannouncer, of means connecting said keys to the stopcheck announcer, andmeans for effecting a signal in said announcer when certain combinationsof keys are operated.

3. In combination with a key operated adding machine, a stop-checkannouncer, of electrical connecting means between said keys and theannouncer, and electrical signalling means operatively associated withsaid announcer to respond through the latter to certain combinations ofdepressed keys.

4. In a stop-check announcer for adding machines, the combination of anelectric signalling circuit, key operated means for making and breakingthe circuit, and movable circuit closing means for closing certainbreaks in the circuit caused by operation of said'first means.

5. A signalling circuit for a stop-check announcer, comprising anoperating open circuit, electric controlled circuit breakers disposed insaid signalling circuit, and selector electric circuit closing means for010s ing selected breaks caused by operation of the circuit breakers.

6. In a stop-check announcer for adding machines, the combination of anelectric signalling circuit, comprising spaced contact members, keyoperated means normally in and out of contact with said members tocontrol the circuit between the latter mem bers, and selector contactmeans movable into contact with said spaced members to close the circuitbetween the said member when the corresponding key operated means isoperated to break the circuit between certain members.

7 In a stop-check announcer for adding machines, the combination of anelectric signalling circuit, comprising spaced con- .tact memberscorresponding to the keys of the adding machine, said meinbersbeingconnected in groups of ten for each nine keys of the adding machine, theextra member being the zero member while the other nine are the digitmembers, a circuit closer disposed in said signalling circuit and'op-'erat1vely connected with the handle of the adding machine, electricalcircuit closing members arranged to normally close the gap between saiddigit members and other c1osing members to normally open the circuit atthe zero members, electric means affected by operation of the keys ofsaid adding machine to operate the closer digit members and the closerzero members of the same group to make and break the circuit between thecorresponding contact members, and a rotating member haying series ofdigit and zero contact members in operative relation to said spacedcontact members, whereby gaps in the signalling circuit caused by theclosing members may be closed by the corresponding selector members toefi'ect a signal.

8. In a stop-check announcerfor adding machines, the combination of anelectric signalling circuit, comprising spaced U- shaped contact membersarranged in groups of ten and adapted to correspond to the nine digitkeys in a group on the adding machine, means for closing and opening thecircuit at a remote point when the adding machine is operated, pivoteddigit circuit closing members for each adding machine key and arrangedto normally contact one arm of each of two adjacent U-Sllttfifitlcontact members of a group. intermediate zero circuit closing membersfor each group normally open to break the circuit between groups ofdigit contact members, means for simultaneously operating a digitclosing member and the zero closing member of the same group byoperating a digit key of said adding machine, and means havingadjust-able contact brushes to engage the U- shaped contact members toclose the signalling circuit. r

9. In a stop-check announcer, the combination of a plurality of spacedcontact members arranged in an electric signalling system, and arotating drum having series of rows of contact adjustable selectorsadapted to close the gaps between said contact members.

10. In a stop check announcer, the combination of a plurality of spacedcontact members arranged in an electric signalling system, and arotating drum having series of rows of contact selectors, each thereofcomprising a resiliently supported contact shoe,

capable of bridging the gap between adjacent contact members, and meanscarried by each shoe to lock the latter in depressed position againstits resilient support.

11. is a stop check announcer for adding nmchines, the combination of aplurality of spaced U-shaped contact members ar 'anged in an electricsignalling system, one arm of each member being T-shaped, the cross barthereof being disposed to overlap in the same plane the adjacent crossbar of another arm, a rocker arm having a portion to bridge and form acontact between two adjacent straight arms of U-shaped con t tion ofcorresponding keys and rocker arms to break the circuit.

12. In a stop-check announcer, the combination of a plurality of keyoperated alined electric make and break units for an electric signallingsystem, a rotating drum having series of rgws of. recesses disposedlongitudinally'of its axis, and a plurality of adjustable selectorcontact shoes arranged in rows in each recess and adapted to cooperatewith the make and break units whereby certain gaps formed in thesignalling system may be closed to effect a signal.

13. A series of selectors, a plurality of spaced elements disposed on asignal circuit and operatively associated with said selectors, and keyoperated means connected with said elements to break the circuit atselected stations whereby contact of certain selectors with saidelements at the station will close the circuit.

"'14. A series of selectors, a plurality of spaced elements disposed ina signal circuit and arranged in grou s of ten each, one thereof for thezero 0 aracter accompanying each nine digits, said elements beingoperatively associated with said selectors, and key operated meansassociated with said elements to break the circuit at selected stationsand to simultaneously operate to close the zero station in the samegroup with a break, whereby contact of certain selectors with saidelements at the open stations will close the signal circuit.

15. In a stop-check announcer, the combination with a plurality. ofspaced elements disposed in a signal circuit and arranged in groups often each, one thereof for the zero place accompanying nine digit places,pivoted rocker contact levers normally closing the circuit between digitelements, anda pivoted contact lever for each zero element normally notin contact-with the zero element and its adjacent digit element of thesame group, magnetic controlling means for operating each lever, and anelectric circuit between each key and its corresponding magneticcontrolling means for simultaneously operating the digit lever and zerolever in the same group.

16. In a signalling circuit of the character described, a plurality ofswitches, magnetic circuit controlling elements therefor, said elementsbeing arranged in groups and comprising one element for each switch andone element extra for each group, and electrical connections between theswitches and the elements to operate the extra element in each groupsimultaneously with the operation of any other element of the samegroup.

17 In a signalling circuit of the character described, a plurality ofkey operated switches, separate magnetic circuit controlling elementstherefor, said elements being arranged in groups, and comprising onenormally closed element for each switch and one normally open elementfor each group, and separate electrical connections between the switchesand the normally closed elements and between the switches and thenormally open element of each group to simultaneously operate thenormally open element with the operation of any normally closed elementof the same group.

In testimony whereof we afiix our 'signa tures.

MORTON WADDELL. MORRIS KATCHER.

